In the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits, specifically in wafer fabrication, cost of manufacture is significantly increased due to wafer breakage. While the problem exists in silicon IC manufacture, it is particularly severe in the fabrication of III-V semiconductor wafers, e.g. GaAs and InP. These materials are more fragile than silicon, and the fabrication of these wafers tends to be more complex and thus more expensive. Breakage of III-V wafers toward the end of the fabrication sequence is especially costly because of the value added to the wafer as processing proceeds. For example, typically the cost of processing an InP wafer is several thousand dollars, significantly more than the value of the wafer (typically.about.$300).
When wafer breakage occurs before processing is complete, the broken wafers are typically discarded. A method for salvaging broken semiconductor wafers in which significant processing investment has occurred would lower the cost of wafer fabrication.